China’s central bank as accepted Amex’s application to start a bank card clearing business, but they still need to receive final approval; American Express has a joint venture with Chinese company LianLian that will allow charges on Amex cards to be cleared and settled domestically; prior to this companies had to partner with the state-controlled UnionPay; Visa and Mastercard are looking to follow in Amex’s footsteps in order to serve the Chinese market. Finextra
